Contamination & Quality Control

Contamination & Quality Control

The addition of the chemical analysis capability of infrared spectroscopy (IR) to microscopy is a significant improvement for interpretation of information acquired by either of the two techniques alone. EMSL Analytical has extensive experience in compositing the spectroscopic analysis by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) with microscopic examination.

Our IlluminatIR® interfaced with a light microscope and an attenuated total reflection (ATR) objective allows regions as small as 15 µm to be simultaneously observed and analyzed for identification of functional groups present in the molecular structure. This micro-FTIR analysis is valuable in such varied applications as the determination of contaminants, quality assurance, product comparison, screening for biological agents in powder mixtures, and identification of unknown substances.

The new concept of IR microspectroscopy regularly demonstrates its effectiveness in many applications at EMSL Analytical. Other techniques such as elemental X-ray mapping and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) are frequently used to provide additional chemical and morphological information of unknown substances.

Photomicrograph of residue on a steel shaft

Demonstration that the residue does not match a suspected substance by comparing the two FTIR spectra

EDX map of contaminant identified as sodium chloride (NaCl) on a silicone-based substrate